Autonomous–Ways, or A-Ways

Where do these Autonomous Vehicles go inside the buildings? Where do the Autonomous Vehicles get power? How do they get into a home? How do they get from one floor to another? How do we manage delays at peak use times? What keeps people from sending you “junk packages”? Do Autonomous Vehicles share hallways and sidewalks with people?

Or do we have separate “ways” for Autonomous Vehicles to go about their business?

We already discussed using Autonomous Personal Mobility Vehicles to enable people to walk together. If the Autonomous Vehicles use existing ways, they can access everywhere people do. So some Autonomous Vehicles need the capability to maneuver safely with people – we will discuss the technical challenges of moving among people later.

There are also several reasons that some Autonomous Vehicles should move separately from people. Autonomous Vehicles can move faster than people, but having Autonomous Vehicles whizzing about under foot is not only uncomfortable but dangerous. People might step on Small Autonomous Vehicles and fall. Autonomous Vehicles will work more efficiently on clean solid surfaces: carpets make fine motion control challenging. Fibers and dirt in the carpet foul the works of the Autonomous Vehicles. So how do we solve these challenges?

Innovation: Autonomous–Ways, or A-Ways, Optimized for Autonomous Vehicles

We propose creating enclosed Autonomous-Ways, or A-Ways, for Autonomous Vehicles to provide safer, faster, less expensive service. A-Ways provide solutions for many of the challenges facing the design and introduction of Autonomous Vehicles.

Enclosing A-Ways keeps out pedestrians, human-driven vehicles, animals, dirt, weather, and debris. Excluding extraneous objects simplifies the design of Autonomous Vehicle controls, reducing cost and improving safety. Managing Autonomous Vehicles and the A-Way itself is much simpler in a completely controlled environment. Optimizing the riding surface improves cost, control, and efficiency. Protecting the riding surface from weather and other wear inducing factors helps maintain the riding surface, and Autonomous Cleaning & Repair Vehicles can provide additional improvements. Communicating inside an enclosed A-Way is free of interference. Powering Autonomous Vehicles directly in the A-Way essentially eliminates the cost, weight, and scarce resources for batteries – just like subways and electric trains. From a human perspective, possibly the most beneficial result of the enclosed A-Ways will be keeping the Autonomous Vehicles out-of-sight and out-of-mind, except when you want one.

Enclosing the A-Ways requires Autonomous Vehicles that don’t pollute, so we focus on electric motors. One of the major barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles is the cost, weight, and scarce resources for batteries. Powering directly means that batteries are only needed when moving between powered A-Ways. Minimizing batteries significantly reduces weight and cost of Autonomous Vehicles – in the amazing Tesla Model S the batteries are the heaviest component at 1,323 pounds, or 28% of the total weight. Powering directly is more efficient than charging and discharging batteries, and makes more efficient use of regenerative braking. Autonomous Vehicles can run continuously without having to stop to recharge. Batteries use scarce natural resources, such as Lithium, which is a major barrier to the widespread use of Autonomous Vehicles that we envision.

Automated Solar Cell Installation and Maintenance

I talked about Autonomous Actors Installing and Maintaining Infrastructure and Autonomous Cleaning– well here is a company that is doing that NOW with solar cells! 

Today the NY Times report included information on Alion Energy, which is doing exactly that. Automated Installation cuts the time in half and the person hours to ¼. And their installation system is better for challenging environments.

Alion also automates the cleaning and ongoing maintenance. This significantly reduces the cost of solar energy, and makes it competitive with conventional energy production. 

Serbot, AG in Switerland builds automated cleaners for solar cells, and also builds them for cleaning the glass facades of buildings!

We need to discount the naysayers who project high costs based of “current methods” without allowing for innovation to reduce costs, improve quality, etc. That’s why I feel so strongly that we need to be fostering innovation through our education system and our economy and our entire culture!

I love it when my projections come to fruition. Now if we can just get working on the rest of my projections I’ll be really happy – perhaps there are other groups working in secret on those too J.

Power Outages Caused by Squirrels: A Case for Autonomous Infrastructure

I suspect many people didn’t take my concerns for the future of our infrastructure seriously, so today’s NY Times opinion on Squirrel Power! by Jon Mooallem was most timely – you can’t make this stuff up!

“since Memorial Day, I’ve cataloged reports of 50 power outages caused by squirrels in 24 states. (And these, of course, are only those power outages severe enough to make the news.) Fifteen hundred customers lost power in Mason City, Iowa; 1,500 customers in Roanoke, Va.; 5,000 customers in Clackamas County, Ore.; and 10,000 customers in Wichita, Kan. — and that was just during two particularly busy days in June. …

“In 1987, a squirrel shut down the Nasdaq for 82 minutes and another squirrel shut down the Nasdaq again in 1994 …

“In Austin, Tex., squirrels have been blamed for 300 power outages a year. Other utility companies have claimed that between 7 and 20 percent of all outages are caused by some sort of wild animal, and a 2005 study by the State of California estimated, hazily, that these incidents cost California’s economy between $32 million and $317 million a year.”

So you might ask, how do I propose to keep squirrels out of the A-Ways? After decades of matching of wits with squirrels eating at our bird feeders, I know it’s a huge challenge. A 2’ diameter squirrel guard on a 6’ pole on our deck works perfectly for red squirrels, grey squirrels and even chipmunks. However it is only marginally effective against raccoons, and not at all against bears. The bears in the Adirondacks have even figured out how to open some of the bear barrels designed to keep them out of a camper’s food.

A primary aspect of squirrel control, and other animals as well, is eliminating food from the area you want to protect: AutonomousCleaning devices will shine here. Having also matched wits with mice, I know that eliminating even the smallest entry hole is essential: another role for Autonomous Devices. From competing with groundhogs for food in our garden, I know that live trapping is an effective method that also works with other small creatures – I don’t plan to try it with bears: Autonomous Trappers can manage this though and then spirit them away J.

Lots of room for innovation in improving our Autonomous Infrastructure.